Nina Lee Carnaby Dress Sewing Pattern

A simple shift dress with just enough features to keep things interesting, Carnaby is the perfect palette for playing with pattern and colour. With separate skirt and bodice pieces, you can easily create a striking colour block effect or keep it subtle with just a pop of contrast in the pockets. This is a super wearable dress inspired by the a-line shifts of the 1960s, brought up-to-date with contemporary touches.

Carnaby comes in two variations: with or without short sleeves (View A is sleeveless; View B has sleeves). The dress is finished with neck facings and closes with an exposed zip at the centre-back, complete with simple zip guard. The instructions are comprehensive, so it doesn’t matter if you’ve never tackled an exposed zip before – you’ll enjoy it!

Skill level: confident beginner

Suitable fabrics

Medium-weight woven fabrics such as lightweight denim, corduroy, lightweight wool, cotton sateen.

For the pockets

0.3m of light- to medium-weight woven fabric in a contrasting colour or design (this is optional).

Notions

1 x 8 inch exposed (non-separating) zipper; 0.6m (View A)/0.3m (View B) medium-weight fusible interfacing, 23cm x 4cm / 9 x 1.5 inch piece of grosgrain ribbon (for the zip guard).